


a brighter morning may come

by ah_choo (lieagain)



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Canon Compliant, Fluff, M/M, Sharing a Bed, boys being stupid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:01:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25083559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lieagain/pseuds/ah_choo
Summary: “Unfortunately, not long ago I lost my dear roommate…”“Stop telling people I’m dead!”“Sometimes I still can hear his voice…”
Relationships: Kim Mingyu/Lee Jihoon | Woozi
Comments: 10
Kudos: 155
Collections: and they weren't roommates (oh my god they weren't roommates)





	a brighter morning may come

**Author's Note:**

> this fic was born out of the shared sadness of jihoon and mingyu not being roommates anymore, and four writers wanting to commemorate that. it's very interesting how each of us took different approach on the same prompt, so don't forget to check out the other works in this collection!!
> 
> title from seventeen's "I wish".

“Why me," Mingyu whines, again, folding his clothes and putting them into the box. "I want my own room too."

Jihoon glances at him from his phone.

"Hey, isn't that my shirt?" He points out. Mingyu takes a second look at the garment and frowns.

"Is it? Didn't I buy it?"

Jihoon rolls up from his bed with a grunt -  _ you shouldn't act like such an old man,  _ Mingyu once told him, to which he replied with a groan - and takes a look at the shirt.

"But didn't I wear it last week to the studio?"

"I'm not sure?" Mingyu glances at him. "Do you want it?"

Jihoon shrugs. The younger puts it in Jihoon’s box, where the clothes got thrown in without much thought. He'd probably find more of his clothes there too.

Jihoon flops back onto his bed, retrieving his phone and going back to what he was doing. He plays some music, a random playlist Melon recommends him based on his listening history, and there’s a weird feeling in his stomach when he thinks about moving out from their current dorm, definitely not connected to the nostalgia about leaving the current place.

But it’s for the best, he thinks.

***

“You’re the last person I thought that would be happy with this outcome,” Hansol says. Jihoon is turning left and right on his chair, the blue lights of his studio painting his skin an unhealthy color. 

“What can I say?” The boy shrugs. “Maybe that will cure me of this stupid crush.”

Hansol rolls his eyes.

“I told you that you have a chance with him. Mingyu loves you - just like we all love you, yeah - but also he’s so fond of you and I’m sure he wouldn’t like, totally reject you.”

Jihoon shakes his head.

“It wouldn’t be good for the group anyway. It’s fine, I promise. It’s not like we’re separating for life, it’s just a room arrangement.” He shrugs. Hansol looks at him, judging for a while before he concludes the conversation should end here.

"Okay hyung. Can you show me the melody for  _ Kidult  _ bridge once again?"

***

Moving into the new dorm in the midst of comeback preparations wasn’t a good idea. Jihoon feels exhausted from the countless nights spent in the studio, and as the recording is coming to an end, they’re going to start rehearsing the choreography, but he feels like his body will simply collapse as soon as he’ll try dancing. So on top of that, moving dorms - even just one floor up - was definitely not a good idea, but he was the only one that would complain about it. He didn’t though, because listening to his friends marveling about the new apartment, planning on decorating and furnishing their new rooms to their liking, made him incredibly soft inside.

As he brought all the boxes to his room, he simply left them as they were, only taking out a blanket from one of them. His new room is not the biggest but still quite spacious, directly above his old room. There’s a bed, a simple desk and a hanger instead of the closet. He’ll have to choose some new furniture, but for now even thinking about it makes him tired. So he lays down on the bed, wrapped up in a blanket, and the music played by the boys as well as their laughter and talking lull him to sleep.

***

"Good morning!"

Jihoon groans, rubbing his eyes with his hands. When he looks up, Mingyu's smiling face is looking at him from a distance definitely too close to be comfortable. Jihoon leans back and notices he's crouching by his bed.

"What are you doing here?"

The boy pouts.

"Aw, already forgot about your precious roommate?" He puts a hand over his heart, pretending to be hurt. Jihoon rolls his eyes and extends his hand to pat Mingyu’s head. His hair is still a little damp from the shower he took earlier.

“Never.”

Mingyu breaks into a short laugh, abandoning his act. 

“But seriously, why did you come?” Jihoon asks, sitting up on the bed. 

“To check if you’ve unpacked already.” He looks around the empty room, boxes taking the most space on the floor.

“I don’t really have, you know. A place to do that.”

“You have plenty of it,” Mingyu says and stands up, knees cracking as he does -  _ who’s old now, huh?  _ \- and opens the boxes one by one, checking what’s inside and slowly starting to unpack. Since Jihoon just woke up, it takes him a few seconds to catch up on what’s happening.

“Wait, no, leave it, I’ll do it alone-” he tries to stop Mingyu, nearly tripping on the blanket he got caught up with, and the younger boy catches him, steadying him until he’s standing on his both feet.

“It’s okay, I’m done with our room anyway.”

Mingyu goes back to work, and Jihoon joins him. They start with the desk, even though Jihoon knows he’ll want to change it soon.

“So you and Wonwoo moved in successfully?” He asks. To compensate them for having to share a room, the boys agreed to let them take the biggest room.

“Yup!” Mingyu confirms. “We changed the furniture arrangement a bit.”

“So you’re going to become a gamer like him now?” He takes out the poster-sized frame, but filled with the pictures of the group, and leans it on the wall by the desk, leaving the figuring out where to hang it later. 

“No, he said he doesn’t want to be a nuisance and he put the computer in Cheol hyung’s room, so they can game together.”

“Oh.”

They fall into comfortable silence, sometimes broken by Mingyu who asks where Jihoon would like him to put something. They’re quickly done with most of the stuff, only clothes, shoes and albums left, and Mingyu finally makes Jihoon wash up ( _ No offense hyung, but you’ve been sleeping for like twelve hours or more, don’t you feel gross? _ ), and by the time Jihoon is done with showering, Mingyu is there with breakfast, a handmade kimbap roll, and he opens up a Muji website, because apparently, their furniture would go well with Jihoon’s style, and they look for suitable things together.

It doesn’t seem like they separated at all.

***

“Oh, you redecorated your room?” Daniel asks. Jihoon brushes his hair from his forehead, a little bit too long now but the company said he has to leave it before they decide for a haircut for this comeback, and nods, changing the videocall camera to the normal one.

“Yeah, we moved. I mean, we bought the apartment in between our two and I won the new room. Cool, huh?” He shows him around. His friend called exactly ten minutes after he finished assembling the furniture, so it’s looking clean and neat.

“Oh, nice. But only one bed?” Daniel raises one brow. Jihoon sighs, changing the camera back to himself, and makes a sad face.

“Yes. Unfortunately, not long ago I lost my dear roommate…”

“Stop telling people I’m dead!” Mingyu says, walking into the room with two cups of coffee. Jihoon shakes his head.

“Sometimes I still can hear his voice…”

Daniel bursts out laughing, and Mingyu puts one cup down on Jihoon’s desk before he comes to lean over Jihoon’s shoulder.

“Hi hyung!” He waves to the phone and settles himself on Jihoon’s bed.

“We have individual rooms now,” Jihoon explains. 

“Oh, nice.” Daniel nods. “But such a shame, because I thought…”

Jihoon feels the tips of his ears reddening.

“What. What did you think.” He says harshly. Mingyu looks up at him with a questioning look. Daniel raises his brows with a slight smirk tugging at his lips.

“You know what.”

“Wow, nice to know I’m a mind reader! So, why did you call again?” Jihoon diverts the topic and fortunately, Daniel complies. Only after hanging up he gets a message.

_ thought you stepped up your game _ _   
_ _ 1:32 PM _

_ oh shut up _ _   
_ _ 1:33 PM _

***

The boys seem to adjust well to their new dorm and rooms, everyone always talking about how nice it is to live alone, with Mingyu and Wonwoo always complaining that they’re the only ones that don’t get to experience this freedom, but still they keep meeting in the living room, keep migrating between the floors.

That is, of course, if they have time, as they are spending most of it in the practice room anyway.

Jihoon tells Hansol he finally stopped pining over Mingyu and the separation is good for him. Hansol points out that he has seen Mingyu more at their floor than Jun, who literally lives there. Jihoon kicks him.

***

It's two am when Jihoon and Mingyu are coming back to their dorm from the practice. The rest of the members stayed to practice more, but Mingyu said he's not feeling well, probably because of the food he ate earlier, and Jihoon said he'll take him home, which was a good excuse for him since he felt dizzy since the beginning of the practice but didn't want to worry the members.

The days might have gotten warm, but the night air is still chilly, making Jihoon shiver in his shorts.

"You sure you can walk? We can take a taxi."

Mingyu shakes his head.

"I need fresh air. It's not that far so I'll be fine."

Jihoon nods.

"Tell me if you change your mind," he says anyway and looks up at the younger. The mask hides the half of his face, but his eyes indicate there’s a soft smile behind it when he looks down at him.

"Thanks, hyung."

Jihoon's heart makes a flip.

When they arrive Jihoon makes sure Mingyu changes into his pajamas and drinks a lot of water. He puts him in bed, ready to go to his own room, but Mingyu stops him by taking his hand.

"I miss you, hyung," he says. Jihoon turns around and looks at him, exhausted, covered with a blanket up to his chin.

"We see each other every day," Jihoon says, confused.

"Yeah, but… you were a better roommate than Wonwoo hyung." He talks with a pout. Jihoon chuckles and tries to calm the butterflies in his stomach.

“That’s nice to hear.”

“Can you stay?”

“Hm?” Jihoon asks as if he didn’t hear.

“I don’t want to be all alone here,” Mingyu explains. 

“The rest will come in an hour or two.”

“Please?”

Jihoon bites his lower lip, but nods. Mingyu scoots closer to the wall and lifts up the blanket.

This is not the first time they’re doing this, but it’s not like they were doing it very frequently. But Jihoon lies down and lets Mingyu cuddle up to him, petting his hair gently until they both fall asleep.

***

It’s rare that Jihoon wakes up earlier than Mingyu, but he does today. They separated at night, Mingyu curled up on his side and him on his back, as usual. He turns to the side, palm under his cheek, to look at the younger. He looks way better than at night, sleep really helped him.

It’s not that Jihoon has been in love with him since the beginning. For all these years he regarded Mingyu as this cute, clumsy dongsaeng who’s very passionate and kind, and they had the same sense of humor, so they clicked easily. They lived in the same room for so many years it seemed like they’re going to live together forever. In a group of thirteen people, it’s a given that some are closer than the other. But when it came to Mingyu, it was a different level of closeness than with other members.

The moment when he realized his feelings toward his roommate evolved to something more was nothing special. Daniel visited him in his studio, soju in a black plastic bag from the convenience store, and they both got slightly tipsy. Daniel was giving him a solid twenty-minute monologue about his girlfriend, how much he loves her and how amazing person she is, and Jihoon briefly wondered if he’ll ever have a person like this. But almost immediately his brain flooded him with images of Mingyu, sleeping in between the schedules because he practiced all night, holding his cola can high above his head, out of Jihoon’s reach, telling him he had enough for today and will explode because of the bubbles if he drinks this one too. Mingyu always being there for him when he was stuck, when he was tired or sick. Mingyu, always so bright and optimistic. So kind. So… Mingyu.  _ I think I like Mingyu _ , he said immediately after realizing, the alcohol not allowing him to think much before speaking. Daniel stopped talking only for a short while, nodded, said  _ Yeah, understandable _ , and kept on talking.

Mingyu starts waking up, scrunching his nose and smushing his face harder into the pillow. Jihoon chuckles breathily, and raches to brush his hair out of his face.

“Morning.”

The younger opens his eyes and smiles when he notices Jihoon.

“Good morning, hyung,” he says, voice raspy from sleep.

“Yeah, good morning Jihoon,” a voice from the other side of the room says, and Jihoon almost falls down from the bed from the quick movement of his body when he turns to look. Wonwoo is sitting on his bed, still in his pajamas, playing some game on his phone, judging by the way he’s holding it. “Missed your old dorm?”

“Uhhh…” He doesn’t answer, his head suddenly empty.

“It’s okay, I’ve been sleeping at Cheol hyung’s room too lately,” the boy says with a shrug and goes back to his game. There’s a small weight lifted from his shoulders as if he did something bad and now had to apologize for it.

“I should probably go wash up,” he says, getting up from the bed. “See you later,” he says, leaving for his own room quickly so none of them see his blush.

***

It definitely isn’t working.

Jihoon seriously thought that being separated from Mingyu in his living space would make him forget about his stupid crush, just as he told Hansol. But turns out that now he thinks about him even more. Even if they spent most of their time together anyway, because they’re  _ coworkers _ , it’s still group time. He misses their private time; watching anime together, fiddling with music on his computer while Mingyu’s editing his pics or videos, talking at night about literally everything and nothing instead of sleeping.

The longing makes him realize how deep he fell.

***

The following weeks are getting busier and busier. The whole group buzzes with excitement for the upcoming comeback. Filming the music videos, dance videos, solo and unit activities for entertainment programs. It's all exciting and fun, even if they don't rest properly. It's the life they chose and enjoy.

But why does Mingyu look… sad?

Well, maybe not sad. But resigned. Disappointed?

"Isn't it because of the scandal?" Seungcheol muses when Jihoon voices out his concern. "The social media ban will be lifted soon but still no individual schedules for him."

Jihoon nods and looks at the other side of the room, where the 97 line is having their photos taken. Mingyu looks over the photographer's shoulder and meets his eyes, as he knew they're talking about him. He sends Jihoon a smile.

He confronts Mingyu about it on the way to their other schedule. They ended up in the same car with him and Junhui, who fell asleep as soon as he buckled up his belt, so he starts the conversation.

"Do you miss having individual schedules?"

Mingyu looks at him for a moment before glancing out of the window. 

"A little. But I can't help it, can I?"

"Mingyu, I told you not to blame yourself. You didn't do anything wrong–"

"Hyung." Mingyu puts his hand on Jihoon's knee and looks at him. "Thank you for worrying about me. But I'm gonna be fine, really. I'm going to rest and be even better at the full group schedules."

"Promise?" Jihoon asks quietly. Mingyu's hand moves from his knee to wrap around his palm and squeeze it. 

"I promise."

***

The practice on the day before the comeback is usually the worst. Even though they don't have any activities on the next days, only a showcase that's been partially pre-recorded, they have to make sure everything's perfect - even if that means staying up until dawn. But the excitement makes up for it.

When they get back to their dorms, the sky is already in a lighter color, the sun will be peeking from behind the tall buildings soon.

Mingyu looks absolutely exhausted, and Jihoon and Seungcheol help him with getting off the car. He leans on the shorter, and Jihoon secures his hand on his waist.

"Mingyu, you're sure everything's alright?" Seungcheol asks worriedly. "You do not have to go so hard."

"I'm fine," Mingyu reassures them with a smile. 

The good thing about their building is that it has two elevators - would be a pain in the ass if half of the group had to wait.

When the elevator stops on the sixth floor, Seungcheol and Joshua leave.

"You're not going with us?" The leader asks, looking at Mingyu.

"Ah, right." He peels himself off Jihoon, his side suddenly feeling empty, and waves to the rest of the boys as a goodbye.

Jihoon doesn't go to sleep right away. His eyes burn slightly when he's looking at his computer screen, but he's got an idea for a song and he's worried he'll forget about it if he doesn't write it down right now.

He jumps slightly when there's a knocking on his door.

"Come in," he says, not looking away from the screen, briefly wondering who could it be, since all the boys went to sleep.

"Oh, I wasn't sure if you're still up…"

His head turns to the side so fast he can hear cracking in his neck. The tall boy is standing awkwardly in the door to his room, cracked open only a few centimeters.

"Mingyu?"

"Sorry for coming here so late."

Jihoon shakes his head.

"No, it's okay. Everything alright?"

Mingyu goes in and closes the door, still standing awkwardly by it.

"Yeah, yeah, can't sleep because I'm excited and I didn't want to bother Wonwoo hyung…"

Jihoon nods. "Want to watch some anime?"

The younger nods eagerly with a smile. Even if Jihoon would like to go to sleep himself, he won't say no to Mingyu. 

They settle on Jihoon's bed, the laptop on Mingyu's lap, browsing through Netflix to find something. Jihoon's head feels heavy, so he rests it on Mingyu's shoulder, closing his eyes. The younger tenses.

"If you're tired we don't have to do this."

"No no it's fine," Jihoon assures him, patting his stomach, as it's the first thing his hand falls onto, but the yawn escapes his mouth.

"Hyung, I'm serious. What were you even doing up this late?"

"Writing."

"Even now?"

Jihoon shrugs. "Got an idea and had to write it down before I forget it."

Mingyu doesn't reply, and Jihoon hears the sound of his laptop closing. He opens his eyes a little and looks up at Mingyu.

"I will go back to my dorm and you go to sleep," he says, getting up. Jihoon grunts at the loss of support under his head.

"You confuse me so much Mingyu."

"You're always saying that." He puts his computer back on the desk. "Why?"

It's probably the lack of sleep, or he's just too tired, but not thinking about it too much he tells the truth.

"You want me to cuddle with you, and you come to me so often since I moved, and I don't know if you would be like this to everyone in the group or not, if it's only friendly or not but I keep wishing… I keep wishing it was more."

Mingyu freezes in a spot. Jihoon rubs his eyes and shakes his head. His heart is beating like crazy, but since the truth is out it feels better.

"Sorry. It might've sound weird. But I won't make a move on you. I appreciate our friendship, and I don't want to lose it."

Mingyu turns around and looks him straight in the eye. He looks nervous; Jihoon knows this look very well.

"I wouldn't mind you making a move on me," he says quietly. Jihoon's heart seems to stop beating for a while, and Mingyu laughs suddenly, throwing his head back. He puts his hands on his hips and looks at Jihoon with a weird looking smile.

"You're doing it again," Jihoon whines and throws a pillow at him. Mingyu catches it.

"It's just- it's pathetic how I could literally say the same thing to you." Before Jihoon can react, he continues. “You never say no to cuddles. You keep holding hands with me. And yet- and yet I kept thinking you just treat me like a younger brother.”

Jihoon’s breath hitches in his throat.

“Are you- are you serious?” He asks with disbelief. In his bravest expectations, he wouldn’t believe this could happen. Mingyu answering to his weird confession with a one on his own. In such a weird setting too, both tired, the rising sun warming the room.

Mingyu’s gaze is soft on him when he takes a few steps closer and gives him the pillow back.

“Yeah.”

Jihoon is confused, not knowing what to say, because even having written so many love songs he’s lost and can’t find any fitting words - but his body betrays him anyway and he cannot stop a big yawn that escapes his mouth. Mingyu laughs.

“Sleep, hyung, we’ll talk about this in the morning,” he says and looks like he’s about to walk out of the room.

“Mmmhm okay, but I’ll want to talk about it as soon as I wake up so you better stay here,” he says, going for a casual tone while he’s shuffling and lying down on his bed, but it’s all intentional.

But that doesn’t matter, since Mingyu looks more than happy to do so.

***

“If he’s not going to be here I’m going to-”

“Come on, of course he’s going to be in Jihoon’s room.”

Jihoon wakes up to loud voices coming from the outside, and then strong knocking on the door.

“Kim Mingyu, you’re here, right?” Jeonghan says, barging inside. Seungcheol is walking with him with an apologetic expression and if he cranes his neck, Jihoon can see Junhui and Chan looking inside from the corridor like two curious meerkats.

“No,” Mingyu says from beside Jihoon, tugging the blanket over his head. Jeonghan tries to look annoyed, but Jihoon can see amusement in his eyes.

“Manager hyung is looking for you. He wants to talk with you.”

Mingyu sits up suddenly, throwing the blanket off of himself, and Jihoon cannot help and laugh at the state of his hair, every strand pointing to another direction. When he looks at the intruders, he notices Seungcheol is biting his lip very hard to not laugh out loud. 

“Manager hyung?”

“Easy, he’s waiting on your floor. By the way, you’re the last ones to get up, remember we have to be ready by two for the press showcase.”

Jeonghan leaves the room. Seungcheol looks once again at the two on the bed before heading out, sending them a questioning look. Jihoon mouths  _ later  _ to him, sitting up as well. The leader closes the door when he leaves.

Mingyu looks comically with his bed hair and pillow pattern pressed on his cheek, his eyes squinting as if they still couldn't adjust to the brightness of the day. Jihoon combs his hair with his fingers to tame it, but it doesn’t help much.

“We were supposed to talk,” Mingyu says with a slight pout.

“We can do it later, don’t worry.” They stay like this for a few seconds, just looking at each other, before they’re interrupted with Jihoon’s stomach rumbling, making them both laugh.

“Okay, I’ll go, and you eat something,” the younger says while getting up. He makes his way to the door, but he turns around halfway just to get back and kiss Jihoon on the cheek before he leaves. “See you later!”

Jihoon shakes his head with a chuckle, lying down back again. He’s blushing, slightly, but this time it feels good. He lies for a while basking in this feeling.

Turns out Hansol was right.

**Author's Note:**

> my twitter is @yiwoozi


End file.
